E 286 
.P84 
1885 
[Copy 1 




PORTLAND 

JULY 4, 1885. 



ORATION 



BY 



MATTHEW P DEADY, LL.D., 

U. S. DISTRICT JUDGE, 
OREGON. 



The 109th Anniversary of American Independence. 

Resolved, by the Committee of Arrangements— that the thanks 
of the citizens of Portland and of^ this Committee especially, are due, and 
are hereby tendered to the Hon. Matthew P. Deady, U. S. District 
Judge, for his patriotic, eloquent and instructive oration. 




Glass. 
Book- 



:£l2u_s^ 



ID 






ORATION 



DELIVERED AT 



PORTLAND 



MATTHEW PrDEADY, LL.D., 

U. S. DISTRICT JUDGE, 
OREGON. 



JULY 4, 1 885. 



PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 



PORTLAND: 

A. G. WALLING, PRINTER. 

1 88;. 



ORATION. 



Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: 

Forty and two years ago, the prophetic eye of a 
young American adventurer, William Overton of 
Tennessee, saw here, as he paddled his canoe along 
the placid Wallamet, the promise of a future com- 
mercial emporium. 

Moved by this vision, he stepped ashore and took 
possession of the place where now stands the city of 
Portland, busy with the varied trade and commerce 
of the surrounding country, far and near. 

Then, this grand and beautiful panorama of hill 
and vale, mountain and river, forest and prairie, that 
greets and charms the eye from every point of view, 
was practically unknown and unoccupied save by the 
squalid Indian, living in grovelling ignorance and 
superstition, with no higher aim or purpose than to 
satisfy the animal wants and appetites that were com- 
mon to him and the beasts of the field. 



Look now abroad — another race has filled 

These populous borders — wide the woods recede, 

And towns shoot up and fertile realms are tilled; 
The land is full of harvests and green meads. 

Here, where only a third of a century since, a few 
enterprising young men were gatliered on the bank 
of the river in log huts and board houses, doing the 
limited business of the monthly San Francisco steamer 
with the summer ox wagon and winter steamboat of 
the Wallamet valley, the compact and well built 
metropolis of the North Pacific has arisen and covered 
the long slope between the shore and the summit of 
the encircling hills, with elegant and comfortable 
residences, churches, courts, hospitals, schools, libra- 
ries, stores, workshops, factories and all the exterior 
evidences of a cultivated and prosperous community. 

Here, where within twenty-five years, there was 
only a weekly mail via California, and seldom if ever 
a foreign sail, is the terminus of two transcontinental 
and other railways and a port frequented by the ves- 
sels of all nations, to and from which come and go, 
continually, lines of commodious and elegant river 
and ocean steamers. 

And now, the flood-tide of immigration is coming 
in, and these once distant shores begin to feel — 

The first low wash of waves, where soon 
Shall roll a human sea. 

The causes which led to the settlement of the 



original thirteen colonies and their declaration of 
independence of Great Britain, which we commemo- 
rate here to-day, have their origin far back in the 
history of Europe. 

By the thirteenth century, Europe was awakened 
from the long sleep or rather incubation of the middle 
ages — the seed time of the modern world; and the 
next four centuries were among the most eventful in 
the world's history. 

The discovery of gunpowder in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, was itself enough to have revolutionized the world. 
By this means the mode of warfare was changed 
from the sword and lance of the mailed knight to 
the firelock of the common soldier; and the battle was 
no longer to the strong but to the many. 

The discovery of printing in the fifteenth century 
unlocked the learning of the few and made it common 
knowledge. Then followed the revival of learning 
and the reformation. Thought was made compara- 
tively free and communicable; and the people learned 
to sit in judgment on the past, question its dogmas 
and teachings, and think and act for themselves. 

And now, as the controversies, persecutions and 
wars which this conflict of ideas and opinions engen- 
dered, began to shake the foundations of society, the 
new world was providentially discovered, where the 
weaker party found a refuge and liberty of thought 
and action, and the enthusiast and adventurer a field 
for his philanthropy and Utopia. 



During the one hundred and fifty years, immedi- 
ately prior to the declaration of independence, this 
European fermentation overflowed the country occu- 
pied by the Old Thirteen colonies, and filled their 
borders with Cavaliers, Churchmen, Catholics, Puri- 
tans, Baptists, Quakers and Methodists from England, 
the Scotch Covenanter and Jacobite, the Irish Pres- 
byterian, the German Moravian, the Dutch Luthei'an, 
the French Huguenot and others that defy classifica- 
tion, all anxious to escape from the restraints and 
limitations of the society of the old world, and begin 
anew. 

Some of these people settled to themselves, and 
founded colonies, where their ideas of civil and 
religious polity had free ])lay, and made a lasting 
mark on the succeeding state. Others, less numerous, 
formed neighborhoods or localities in the same col- 
ony, where the conflict and attrition necessarily 
resulting from the management of their common 
affairs, ditl much to abate and rub off their peculiari- 
ties and produce similarity it' not assimilation. 

During the two hundred and fifty years that have 
elapsed, since the wave of immigration from Europe 
first broke on the eastern coast of the continent, the 
progress of population has steadily followed the course 
of the sun, across the Alleghanies, up the Mississippi, 
over the Rocky mountains and down to the shore of 
the Pacific. Here this European wave seems to have 
spent its force and reached its limit, to be confronted 



with a counter wave frome Asia, with what result we 
can only surmise. 

The progress of immigration upon and across this 
continent has not been caused by the mere enlarge- 
ment or growth of an original settlement, so as to con- 
stitute a solid and continuous empire from ocean to 
ocean, but rather by the successive formation and 
growth of distinct, though kindred communities, the 
younger being an outgrowth of the elder. Substanti- 
ally these communities, spoke the English language 
and governed themselves as best they could after the 
parliamentary method of the mother country — by a 
deliberative body representing the whole people — and 
according to the traditions of the common law. 
Among the last additions to this aggregation of com- 
munities and union of states, is the pioneer of the 
Pacific — the great state of Oregon. It was originally 
formed by the voluntary and independent immigra- 
tion of families and individuals from the older com- 
munities on the Atlantic slope, while yet the territory 
was in the occupation of, and claimed by Great Britain. 

May we not proudly say — 

Time's noblest offspring is the last. 



Notwithstanding the separate and independent 
existence of the earlier of these American communi- 
ties there ^was from the beginning a tendency to 
federation and unity. The origin of this tendency, 



which with favoring circumstances afterwards pro- 
duced the national constitution and government, was 
the common origin, speech, law, polity and tradition 
of the far greater number of the colonists, together 
with a certain degree of proximity, convenience and 
similarity of interest. Still in those days, when time 
and space were not yet annihilated by steam and 
electricity, when a journey from New York to 
Charleston or Boston occupied much more time and 
was attended with far greater hardships and incon- 
veniences, than one between New York and Portland 
to-day, it is not probable that the colonies would have 
voluntarily consented to the establishment of any 
central authority among them. There were also 
points of difference and discord among them, growing 
out of differences in locality and interest, besides those 
which, as Cavaliers, Puritans, Catholics, Jacobites and 
Huguenots, they inherited from the strifes and con- 
tentions of the old world. If, under these circum- 
stances, they had been left to grow up and mature 
without, any recognized bond of union, or central 
authority, it is probable that they would have become 
distinct and rival states, incaj^able of any political 
union, or becoming component parts of a common 
and superior government. 

Fortunately, as it now appears, an external pressure 
came, sufficient to produce a degree of coalition while 
yet the respective peculiarities and idosyncracies of 
Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and 
New England were in the gristle of youth and before 



9 

they had hardened into the bone of maturity. This 
pressure was the attempt of the British parliament, 
in which the colonies were not directly represented, 
to tax them. Undoubtedly there were already some 
adventurous and dissenting spirits in favor of inde- 
pendence, and all such eagerly clutched at this cause 
of contention, in the hope of provoking a strife which 
should end in a total separation between the mother 
country and the colonies. But the great majority of 
the people were still true to the political traditions 
and principles which they had brought with them 
from Great Britain. They admitted that they owed 
allegiance to the King, but they stoutly denied the 
right of parliament to tax them — or in other words, 
to bind them by legislation. Opposition to this claim 
of parliament, which affected all the colonies alike, 
led to consultation between these separate commu- 
nities. Soon, the common idea of the right of the 
matter was formulated in the expression — "No taxa- 
tion without representation" — which thenceforth, 
until the declaration of independence, became the 
watchword and battle cry of the controversy on this 
side of the water. As the claim of the parliament 
was insisted upon and steps taken for its enforcement, 
the necessity for united action upon the part of the 
colonies became more and more apparent. In 1773 
the house of burgesses of Virginia approved a plan 
for the formation of committees of correspondence by 
the colonial legislatures. 

This led to a convention of delegates from the col- 



10 

onies — afterward called the continental congress — 
which first met at Philadelphia, on September 5, 
1774. These delegates had no legislative power, but 
they were charged with the duty of consulting together 
and making common cause with one another, to pro- 
cure a redress of grievances and an acknowledgment 
of their rights under the British constitution. 

And now the idea of union and federation had 
found form and expression! The delegates from the 
hitherto isolated colonies had met in convention by 
authority of the "good people" thereof. Then was 
laid the foundation of that national government which 
has since preserved and extended the union from 
Maine to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and carried the yet unborn flag of the American 
republic in triumph around the globe. 

The congress of 1774, though confining its action 
to remonstrance and recommendation, nevertheless, 
styled itself "the guardian of the rights and liberties 
of the people of the colonies." Still, it was without 
any defined governmental functions. At most, it was 
a mere advisory body in which the colonies — each 
having one vote without regard to size, wealth or 
numbers — deliberated and expostulated with a view 
of restoring harmony between the mother country 
and themselves. Another congress was appointed in 
1775 which from the necessity of the case soon became 
a revolutionary government. This body was a con- 
tinuous one — vacancies therein being filled as they 



11 

occurred by the local legislatures — and lasted until 
March 4, 1789 — the meeting of the first congress 
under the present constitution of the United States. 
War, which was to last seven years and drench the 
land in fraternal blood, was — without any formal 
declaration thereof and while the colonies were pro- 
fessedly seeking only a redress of grievances — already 
commenced by the unpremeditated and casual affairs 
of Lexington and Bunker Hill and the formal siege 
of Boston. 

But as the controversy waxed warmer, the coming 
conflict of arms became more and more apparent. 

The boom of guns was on the air; 
The strong Colonial heart was stirred: 

From north to south, 

From east to west, 

From mouth to mouth, 

From breast to breast, 
Was passed the inexorable word 
That spake a people's last despair 
Of England's justice. Everywhere 
Brave souls grew braver ; — "Let us free 
This land for which we ci'ossed the sea, 
And make it ours. Revolt may be 
The tyrant's name for Liberty." 

Compelled by tlie necessities of the case, the con- 
gress assumed the powers of government and proceeded 
to create a continental currencv and armv. 



12 

On June 15, 1775, it appointed Colonel George 
Washington, one of the delegates in congress from 
Virginia, commander-in-chief of the Continental 
forces of "The United Colonies," for the defense of 
the "liberties of America." Events, all tending to 
produce a formal separation or subjugation of the 
colonies followed fast. The petition of congress to 
the king was refused a hearing in parliament, as 
coming from an illegal assembly in arms against their 
sovereign. An act of parliament prohibited trade 
and commerce with the colonies and subjected Ameri- 
can vessels with their cargoes to capture and condem- 
nation. Open preparations were made to reduce the 
refractory colonies to submission, with the odious aid 
of foreign mercenaries. On the other hand congress 
declared that the exercise of authority in the colonies 
under the British crown ought to be suppressed; and 
recommended to the people of the several colonies the 
establishment of local governments, independent 
thereof. 

At last, that separation and independence to which 
all that had gone before was only the prelude, was 
actually declared. On June 7, 1776, Kichard Henry 
Lee, of Virginia, moved in congress, "That these 
United Colonies are, and of right out to be free and 
independent states; and that all political connection 
between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be totally suppressed." On July Second, the 
resolution received the assent of all the colonies save 
Pennsylvania and Delaware; and on July Fourth, just 



13 

one century and nine years ago, to-day, the continen- 
tal congress by the vote of every colony, adopted and 
published to the world that declaration of indepen- 
dence which has just been read in your hearing; and 
which has annually, ever since, been re-proclaimed 
to the uttermost bounds of the republic and wherever 
the stars and stripes have floated. 

The closing scene — the signing of the declaration 
which severed the political bands that united the 
mother country and the colonies, is thus graphically 
described by Simpson, Oregon's most melodious poet, 
in his centennial ode: 

* * In Congress Hall 
The patriot chiefs are gathered all, 
This day a hundred years ago ; 
A.nd bold John Hancock, rising up, 
Like one who waives a wassail cup, 
Lifts o'er his head where all can see, 
The ringing ritual of the free, 
And with his pen just freshly dipt, 
Points to his own gigantic script. 
That e'en our lisping children know; 
'The King can read that name,' he said, 
'And set his price upon my head!' 
Honor to him, and let his name 
Shine forth as fair in deathless fame! 
Honor to him, and God bless all 
Who sat that day in Congress Hall, 
And pledged their lives and honor bright 
To stand for freedom and the right. 

On this occasion the colonies were first designated 
as *'the United Stales of America;" and from that day 



14 



the several communities that had only lately assumed 
to call themselves "United Colonies" of Great Britain, 
have been known at home and abroad by the sio-nifi- 
cant title which they then assumed, "The United 
States of America." Long may they bear it and de- 
serve it! 



During the century that has just elapsed there has 
been a more or less active tendency to disintegration 
and separation. This tendency has proceeded from 
causes that are inherent in all nations and federations 
which extend over large areas, and include many and 
conflicting local interests. But the strong tendency to 
unity and the great utility of federation have hitherto 
prevailed to keep intact this political fabric of the 
United States — even at the cost of a gigantic war and 
the sacrifice of many, many lives. 

But the continental congress having now assumed 
the right to levey war, make treaties and exercise all 
other powers belonging to a national government, 
there arose an urgent and logical necessity for some 
defined government of the United States, rather than a 
mere convention of delegates exercising such powers 
as they felt justified from time to time in assuming. 
To this end, congress commenced at once to deliberate 
upon a scheme of government. But such was the dif- 
ficulty in agreeing upon any plan, that the "Articles 
of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the 



15 

States," as the scheme was called, were not settled 
and submitted to the states for ratification until 
November 15, 1777. In July of the following year 
the ratification was signed by the delegates from eight 
states, but the remaining five did not all give their 
adhesion until March, 1781 — nearly five years after 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 
On the next day congress convened under the articles 
of confederation; and from that day to this, there has 
been no government of the United States except in 
pursuance of a written constitution made by the states 
or the people thereof, defining and prescribing its 
powers and duties. 

But the government established by the articles of 
confederation was only one in name. In fact, it was 
a mere league or compact, between independent pol- 
itical communities. It had no power over individ- 
uals and die execution of its measures dej^ended upon 
the several states, whose action could not be con- 
strained except by a resort to arms, and that would 
have been civil war. But nevertheless, the confeder- 
acy was a long step in the direction of an adequate 
national government and a more perfect Union. It 
was established under great pressure, as a necessary 
means of accomplishing the independence of the states. 
But it proved the fact, and familiarized the people of 
the states with the idea, that in some form and for 
some purpose, a union of the states was both possible 
and desirable. It also furnished a larger field for 
statesmanship, by creating larger interests that at- 



16 

tracted and developed a higher order of men, capable 
of rising above mere local concerns and sectional 
prejudices, and of including within the scope of their 
vision, the happiness and welfare of a continent. In 
the language of another, "It introduced to men's 
minds the great ideas of national power and national 
sovereignty, as the agencies that were to work out the 
difficult results, which no local powder could accom- 
plish; and although these ideas were at first vague 
and indefinite, and made but a slow and difficult 
progress against influences and prejudices of a nar- 
rower kind, they were planted in the thoughts of men, 
to ripen into maturity and strength in the progress 
of future years. When on June 20, 1782, the eagle 
grasped in his talons the united shafts of power, and 
unfurled the scroll" — E pliiribus ununi — "which 
taught that one people could be formed out of many 
communities, the destiny of America was ascertained." 

But with the peace of 1783, the external pressure 
of the war for independence, that had hitherto held 
the confederacy together, was removed, and that weak 
fabric commenced to give way and decline. During 
the war a debt of forty-two millions had been incurred 
by the Union, but it had not the power to raise a cent 
by taxation. The congress had dwindled down to a 
junta of about twenty indifferent persons, who, unable 
to agree upon a seat of government, were exercising 
the powers of the confederacy, here and there, as they 
might find shelter and countenance from the local 
authorities. In this condition it lingered along until 



17 

by the sheer force of outside pressure and opinion it 
authorized the convention which met at Philadelphia, 
on May 14, 1787, to form a constitution for the United 
States, and on September 28, 1787, it submitted the 
work of the convention to the peoi^le of the several 
states for their approval or rejection. 

This convention was a new spectacle in the history 
of the world. States and kingdoms had before this 
entered into leagues and compacts in their corporate 
capacities, for some specific purpose. But this was 
the first time that the representatives of the people 
of independent communities ever met together and 
deliberately formed a national government for the 
whole. 

By March 4, 1789, the new constitution was duly 
ratified by the states, and the government formed 
under it, successfully launched upon the ocean of 
experiment. Then the worn out confederacy, born 
of the early enthusiasm for independence and the 
throes and the necessities of the war for its attainment, 
was no more. But it had borne fruit. As the apos- 
tle to the Gentiles said of the Law, it was our school- 
master to bring us into the constitution. The feeble 
and ineficient confederacy gave place to " a more per- 
fect Union," maintained by a national government, 
supreme within its sphere, over both states and peo- 
ple, and armed with all the powers necessary to 
uphold and enforce its lawful authority. 



18 



At the head of the new government was Geokge 
Washington — the one man whom both contempor- 
aries and posterity have united in pronouncing, 
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen." And still his is — 

* * * the high aspiring name 
Whose glory all the world has rung- 
Till every virtue 'neath the sun 
Is named in naming Washington, 

To his ability, wisdom and valor, the country was 
largely indebted for the successful issue of the war 
for independence. By his force of character, sound 
judgment and admitted patriotism, the new govern- 
ment, in spite of the doubts and croakings of half- 
hearted friends and the bitter oj)position of open 
and concealed enemies, was inaugurated, upheld and 
firmly established. It is easy to believe, that God 
in his overruling providence, had specially endowed 
and raised u}) Washington to command the armies 
preside over the deliberations and guide the councils 
of this country in its long struggle for independence 
and constitutional government. Wanting, it may be, 
in some of the poetical elements, which so easily cap- 
tivate the multitude, he was, in the language of his 
best biographer, "singularly well balanced and 
eminently distinguished for prudence, firmness, 
sagacity, moderation and overruling judgment, an 
immovable justice, courage that never faltered, 



19 

patience that never wearied, triitli that disdained all 
artifice aud magnanimity without alloy." 

And the defender of the constitution has well and 
truly said of him : 

" His principle, it was to act right and to trust the 
people for support; his principle, it was not to follow 
the lead of sinister and selfish ends and to rely on the 
little arts of party delusi.ni to obtain public sanction 
for such a couise. Born for his country and the 
world, he did not give up to party what was meant 
for mankind. The consequence is that his fame is 
as durable as his principles, as lasting as truth and 
virtue themselves. While the hundreds whom party 
excitement and temporary circumstances and casual 
combinations have raised into transient notoriety, 
have sunk again, like thin bubbles, bursting and 
disolvino- into the 2:reat ocean, Washtn'gtox's fame is 
like the rock that bounds that ocean, and at whose 
feet its billows are destined to break harmlessly for- 
ever." 



In the inauguration ami administration of the 
new government, by the side of Washixgtox stood 
his most tried and trusted friend, Alexandee 
Hamiltox. His comprehensive and active mind 
took in the whole fabric of civil society. The whole 
period of the revolution and the formation and 
establishment of the constitution ""is marked bv his 



20 

wisdom and filled with his power." From the first 
he j^erceived the necessity of a national government 
for the colonies. So early as the year 1780 he 
sketched the outline of such a government which 
strongly resembled the one long afterwards estab- 
lished. In the congress of the confederacy his admir- 
able exposition of the revenue system, the commercial 
power and the ratio of contribution, are justly thought 
to have saved the incipient Union from dissolution. 
He was the leading spirit in bringing about the con- 
vention of the states that formed the constitution. 
In the language of another. "He did more than any 
other public man of the time to lessen the force of 
state attachments, to create a national feeling, and to 
lead the public mind to a comprehension of the 
necessity of an efficient national government." 

While the constitution was before the people of the 
states for ratification, he wrote: "A nation without a 
national government is an awful spectacle. The 
establishment of a constitution in a time of profound 
peace by the voluntary consent of the whole people, 
is a prodigy, to the completion of which I look for- 
ward with trembling anxiety." 

As secretary of the treasury he was specially 
charged with the management of the finances, com- 
merce and navigation of the country. These subjects 
and everything pertaining to them were simply with- 
out form and void. The country was deeply in debt, 
without revenue or credit at home or abroad. How 



21 

Hamilton, in sjjite of personal jealousy, conflict- 
ing interests and selfish ignorance, both in and out of 
congress, brought order and solvency out of tliis chaos 
and bankruptcy, has passed into history. In the 
language of another, " He touched the dead corpse of 
the public credit and it sprang to its feet. He smote 
the rock of national resources, and abundant streams 
of revenue gushed forth." 

The record of his labors and achievements will 
ever remain a monument of his comprehensive 
patriotism, his freedom from sectional prejudices and 
his matchless ability as a statesman and jurist. No 
celebration of this day — no commemoration of these 
events — is just or complete without the grateful 
mention and remembrance of these two names — 
Washixgtox and Hamilton — the two men who, 
more than any others, not only achieved the indepen- 
dence of the colonies, but saved them from subsequent 
anarchy and discord — gave them a constitutional and 
free government, equal to the exigencies of peace or 
war — and made them in fact as well as name — the 
United States of America, one and indivisible, let us 
hope, now and forever! 



But between this day and the auspicious hour 
when the father of his country first vowed to " pre- 
serve, protect and defend the constitution of the 
United States," great changes have occurred. The 



22 

king, lords and commons — Hancock and his patriot 
compeers of the continental congress — the sturdy- 
British soldier and his heavy Hessian comrade — the 
brave continental army and its gallant French allies 
— together with all the actors in this important and 
far-reaching drama, have long since been numbered 
with the dead. During the century, of which time 
is now marking the last days, the untried and almost 
unknown United States, has become the great repub- 
lic, under the broad a'gis of whose constitution the 
people of all nations have been gathered, until the 
original sisterhood of states has been trebled and the 
population four times (piadrupled. The now 

Gigantic daughter of the West, 

has long since disputed the supremacy of the seas 
with her otherwise invincible mother, and taken her 
place, in war and peace, in the front rank of the 
family of nations. To-day, within her far-reach- 
ing borders, fifty millions of people keep joyfully the 
anniversary of her independence, while in hamlet, 
town and city, throughout the civilized world, sympa- 
thizing and admiring friends join in the loud acclaim 
— Hail Columbia, happy land ! 

When the bell at Philadelphia rang out the 
Declaration of Independence in tones befitting the 
sacred injunction engraved upon its surface — "Pro- 
claim liberty throughout tbe land, unto all the 
inhabitants thereof" — the colonies were yet compara- 
tively poor and obscure, and their industries and pro- 



23 

ductioiis of the fewest and simplest kind; but on the 
first centennial of that declaration the representatives 
of all nations, and the elite of the world were throng- 
ing into the same city, to witness and participate in 
an exhibition of the products of science and art in 
honor of this memorable event, such as the world has 
never seen. 

To such a rich heritage of country and institutions 
have we of this generation succeeded. How different 
from the condition of those who ventured upon the 
experiment of independence and self-government a 
hundred and more years ago. And yet who will say 
we are not upon the very threshold of our national 
existence. Imagine, if you can, what will be the 
result of the continuous existence of the American 
Union upon this continent for the next thousand 
years, and you have an idea of the wonderful possi- 
bilities of the future of this country. To-day, Eng- 
land is in the ninth century of her existence since the 
Norman conquest. During all this time she has 
maintained substantially the same form of govern- 
ment — the changes therein, however numerous, being- 
gradual and consisting mostly in the application of 
established forms and recognized principles to new 
conditions and circumstances of society. So, the 
independence of American colonies and the establish- 
ment of representative governments, state and 
national, therein, was only the result of an adaptation 
of the fundamental principles of the English law and 
constitution by a people of that lineage, to the changed 
circumstances of their existence in the new world. 



24 

Shall we not, then, show ourselves worthy of our 
lot by 2)i'eserving and improving this heritage for 
those who come after us, to be by them transmitted 
to their successors to the last syllable of recorded 
time? How shall we best do this, is the question of 
the day. The answer is, by promoting and encourag- 
ing that individual integrity and intelligence, without 
which civic virtue is impossible, and preserving, 
according to the circumstances of the times, the proper 
balance, proportion and harmony between the 
national government and those of the states — the cen- 
tripetal and centrifugal forces of the Union. 



Any form of government in which the people have 
any considerable voice or power imperatively requires 
a corresponding amount of individual integrity and 
intelligence. The decay and downfall of popular 
governments has always arisen from and always will 
be the result of a lack of public virtue — a failure on 
the part of the majority of the people entrusted with 
power and influence, to exercise the same for the 
highest public good. 

The nursery and seed plot of the civic virtues is 
the home government — the government of the neigh- 
borhood — the State. Here the mass — the people — 
participate with a large degree of directness in the 
management of public affairs, and by actual experi- 
ence and observation acquire political insight and 



25 

wisdom. In the selection of their immediate rulers 
and representatives they are able to act upon a con- 
siderable observation and knowledge concerning the 
merits and fitness of the respective candidates. Then, 
out of these circumstances of contact and acquaintance, 
grow up a relation between officers and people of per- 
sonal trust and confidence, that is a surer guarantee 
against official negligence or misconduct than any 
pecuniary bond or pledge. Patriotism — that love of 
country which puts the common-weal before self, the 
people before the individual — that lofty and disinter- 
ested sentiment which led Curtius and Decius to 
devote themselves to certain death for the safety of 
Rome; that moved — 

The patriot Tell ; the Bruce of Bannockburn ; 

And that impelled Arnold Winkelried to impale his 
body upon the hostile spears of the Austrian invaders 
and thus "make way for liberty," is generally the 
growth of a limited and well defined locality — one 
having a marked natural boundary and identity or 
long established separate existence. When the city 
of Rome made itself mistress of the civilized world 
and extended the boasted privilege of Roman citizen- 
ship to all the nations of the earth, the identity and 
individuality of the city was proportionally destroyed. 
The sentiment of patriotism diffused over so large 
and ill-defined a surface as the empire, became too 
attenuated and indistinct, to be of any avail as a 
motive power or incentive to noble and disinterested 



26 

action. So, however powerful and extended this 
American Union may yet become — and with a peo- 
ple sufficiently honest and intelligent, it might well 
embrace the whole of North America — its beneficent 
duration must primarily rest on and depend on the 
character of the local communities and governments 
out of which it is constituted, and upon which its 
arch, however expanded, can only safely rest. What- 
ever danger there may be or has been of the triumph 
of anarchy and disunion because of the comparitive 
weakness of the central power — the national govern- 
ment — still it must never be forgotten, that this Union 
— the republic of the United States — is not and never 
was intended to be a Roman empire. No, it is not, 
and may it never become, a single, solid government, 
to which all political action and opinion must bow 
and conform. Let it rather remain an aggregation 
of local communities with a certain amount of 
autonomy or self-government, but still bound together 
and held in place by a central government, which, 
though supreme within its sphere, is itself subordinate 
to their combined wills and direction. Within these 
communities and governments, the great bulk of local 
interests and affairs, concerning which the general 
government is usually neither directly concerned nor 
w^ell advised, may be best promoted and administered. 
Among them will also be found more or less shelter, 
freedom and opportunity for tliose, who for conscience 
or other sake are excluded from the ct^uncils, honors 
or emoluments of the Union. This itself is a great 



27 

safety valve for what might otherwise develop into 
sedition and rebellion. Besides, the very existence 
of these distinct communities or states, within the 
Union, provokes and promotes a healthy rivalry and 
emulation in the conduct of whatever pertains to their 
domestic or social affairs, which, though often 
attended by disappointment and failure, gradually 
increases the general stock of political knowledge and 
thereby improves the condition of the whole. 

But were this vast country once subject to one great 
central government, without political division other 
than departments for the convenient administration 
of the laws and rescripts of the empire, instead of 
this local activity and emulation, producing self- 
respect, independence and patriotism in the citizen 
and educating him to a riglit understanding of his 
duties and privileges, we should have a dead level of 
political monotony over which the arbitrary breath 
of imperialism might sweep uninformad and uncon- 
trolled by the light of local opinion or the force of 
local authority. The empire being the only source 
of power and fountain of honor, its capital or court 
would become to the rest of the country what Paris is 
to France. Thither the enterprise, ambition, wealth 
and culture of the departments would continually 
flow, in search of place, power aud enjoyment, leav- 
ing the country at large — particularly the remoter 
and less opulent ])ortioiis of it — with only the more 
ignorant and poorer sort to constitute its people and 
conduct its business and affairs. 



28 



Without the state the Union of states is impossible. 
Abolish the State or allow it to fall into contempt or 
become imbecile and you supplant the Union built 
upon autonomous states, with the empire, divided 
into administrative departments and ruled by a pre- 
fect or brigadier, responsible only to the central 
authority. It is absolutely necessary, then, to the 
preservation of the harmony and proportion of our 
admirable system of government, that the pillars of 
the Union — the states — be maintained in the position 
which the constitution has prescribed for them and 
long experience has proven necessary. For if they 
are ever destroyed or thrown out of line, the super- 
incumbent arch of this glorious Union must become 
a ruin incapable of reconstruction. 

But the maintenance of the state in all its integrity 
and usefulness depends upon the people thereof. As 
they are so will the state be. 

What constitutes a State ? 
Not high raised battlements or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate; 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts, 

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 

No; — men high-minded men, 

***** 



29 

These constitute a state ; 
And sovereign law, that state's collected will 

O'er thrones and globes elate, 
Sits emiDress, crowning good, repressing ill. 

Oregon ! The matchless land of snow-capped 
mountains and verdure clad valleys — of swelling 
rivers and placid lakes — of majestic forests and broad 
prairies — of rich harvests and luscious fruits — of fair 
women and brave men. Oregon! — Our own loved 
land ! The first American community on the Pacific 
coast — may she ever be such a State! A pillar of 
this Union, firm and unswerving as her everlasting 
hills. Upon her patriotic sons and daughters is 
devolved the duty of keeping this pillar in position. 
They must see to it that their state keeps step to the 
music of the Union — that she yields a willing obedi- 
ence to the paramount authority of the national gov- 
ernment as declared by the pre-ordained and final 
arbiter between the state and nation — the Supreme 
Court of the Republic — and that she also contributes 
by her example and her representatives in the 
national councils, to maintain the Union in its sphere, 
undisabled by weakness, and untarnished by corrup- 
tion. 

The stream rises not higher than its fountain. 
The usefulness and perpetuity of the Union depend 
upon the strength and character of its foundations — 
the people of the several states. If the senators and 
representatives in congress from Oregon are honest 
and capable, so far will the deliberation and action of 



30 

that body promote the public good and the perpetuity 
of the Union. But we will not and (3annot be so 
represented unless the tone of political morality and 
the standard of public virtue in the state, is sufficiently 
firm and elevated. Nothing tends to lower the char- 
acter and qualifications of members of congress more 
than the too prevalent idea that he is the best member 
who, either by hook or crook, gets the most out of the 
national treasury or domain for his state or constitu- 
ents. Puslied to its logical conclusion this theory 
would make congress a mere contrivance for the 
division and distribution of the revenues and assets 
of the Union among its members, in proportion gen- 
erally, to their ability to get what they are not 
entitled to. 

To aid in inculcating and maintaining a proper 
standard of public virtue is the bounden duty of 
every good citizen of Oregon. In the performance of 
this duty it is of the first importance to commence at 
home. In the election of precinct justices and con- 
stables, you are helping to form the standard of pub- 
lic virtue which will obtain in the selection of gov- 
ernors, judges and members of congress. Remember, 
that a public position is a public trust, and remember 
also, that the elective franchise is not a personal 
right but a trust conferred upon you by law, with 
the implied understanding that you will only use it 
according to your best judgment, for the public good. 
A vote given upon any other consideration is a breach 
of this trust and an abuse of this franchise. Always 



31 

vote so as to honor and reward virtue and merit, and 
dishonor and repress vice and incapacity. Public 
virtue cannot exist without private virtue. On the 
contrary the former is only the reflex of the latter- 
In the long run, the man who is immoral and dis- 
honest in his private life will be so in his public one. 
Therefore let no nomination or dictation, by any 
party or body of men, constrain you to support a 
candidate, however smart or popular, whom you have 
reason to believe is unworthy of your confidence and 
esteem as an individual. Insist upon a good charac- 
ter and an upright life as a qualification for oflice and 
as a rule your offices will be filled with none other. 
In this way every citizen can materially contribute 
to the integrity and durability of the state and 
national governments. 

The indifference of the public, to the character and 
conduct of those who make and administer the laws, 
is one of the most unfavorable symptoms of the time. 
Unless there is a change for the better in this respect, 
the time will come, when the property of the country 
will be compelled to seek shelter from popular mis- 
rule and confiscation in the empire or its equivalent. 
The gross robbery of the taxpayers of New York was 
perpetrated by Tweed and his accomplices under the 
forms of popular government based upon universal 
suffrage. It was mainly accomplished by the votes 
of a large number of indigent and ignorant or un- 
scrupulous and careless electors who voted either as 
they were bought or bidden. 



32 

The celebration of the Fourth of July, however 
proper, will not of itself produce honest government 
and good laws. The people must be educated — not 
intellectually alone — but morally and industrially as 
well. The test of right and wrong must not be mere 
success or convenience. A living not truly and hon- 
estly obtained must be regarded as a larceny. Our 
precious but dangerous gift of freedom must be kept 
within the safeguards of God's righteous law. The 
decalogue and the sermon on the mount must once 
more furnish the standard of morality in both public 
and private life. The youth of the country, upon 
whom its future depends, must be taught to respect 
and emulate — 

The austere virtues strong to save 
The honor proof to place or gold — 
The manhood never bought nor sold. 



Europe and Asia are growing old. Their avenues 
to wealth and distinction are filled with long-preferred 
candidates. The lives of the masses are so circum- 
scribed by circumstance that the majority of them 
must live and die in the place and status where they 
were born. But the United States is still in the flush 
and vigor of youth. Here, the opportunities for self- 
improvement, advancement and distinction are within 
the reach of the greater number. 

Yes; America! Land of Washington and Ham- 



33 

iltom! The newly-risen star of the west! The young- 
est daughter of time! Thy history is not in the past, 
but the future. Thy career is yet to be run. The 
fame of thy greatness and achievements may yet fill 
the world, and endure forever. Then — 

Look up, look forth, and on! 

There's light in the dawning sky; 
The clouds are parting, the night is gone; 

Prepare for the work of the day! 

Fallow thy pastures lie 

And far thy shej^herds stray, 
And the fields of thy vast domain 

Are waiting for purer seed 

Of knowledge, desire and deed; 
Tlie keener sunshine and mellower rain! 

But keep tJiy (jarmoitH pure; 
Pluck them back with the old disdain, 

From a touch of the hands that stain; 

So shall thy strength endure. 
Transmute into good the gold of Gain, 
Compel to beauty thy ruder powers, 

Till the bounty of coming hours 

Shall plant on thy fields apart, 
With the oak of Toil the rose of Art! 

Be watchful, and keep us so; 

Be strong, and fear no foe; 

Be just, and the world shall know! 
With the same love, love us, as we give; 

And the day shall never come, 

That finds us weak or dumb 

To join and smite and cry 
In the great task, for thee to die. 
And the greater task, for thee to live! 



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